


Blood and Water

by Decker



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alphys/Undyne-centric, F/F, From the POV of RG1, More Alphynecentric as the fic goes on, PTSD flashback, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, RG1/Undyne friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-15 23:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9262127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decker/pseuds/Decker
Summary: A look at Undyne and her relationship with Alphys from the point of view of fresh-faced new recruit, RG1, who learns that even the strongest heroes sometimes need help, that the enemies you fight and the scars that you wear can be on the inside, and that the family you find is often the one that you become the closest to.And sometimes you need to give your boss a nudge or four to get her to admit her feelings for her best friend.





	1. Making the Cut

Undyne sat behind her desk in the guard station, carefully reading over some papers among a pile of them spread across her desk. A young rabbit monster sat stiffly in a chair on the other side of the desk, trying to ignore the growing, awkward silence.

“RG1, right?” Undyne said after what seemed like far too long. “We have an RG2 working here already.”

“Uh, no relation,” the rabbit said. 

Undyne just nodded in response. Odd naming trends were not uncommon underground. She scooped all the papers up in front of her and tapped them into a neat little pile on her desk. 

“So,” She said, placing the pile to the side. “Why do you want to join the royal guard?”

“Well, uh, I mean, we’re close to breaking the barrier, you know? I want to do my part to make sure that happens. And I...well...I just thought it would be...really neat to work with you. You know?”

Undyne raised an eyebrow. “Work with me?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you’re, like, a pretty big deal, you know? I read about you in the paper. They said you fought a human and lived! No one’s done that since King Asgore and Gerson; you’re a hero!”

Undyne was starting to blush, but she put on a smile full of bravado. “Ha! Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. That you would want to work with me. Who wouldn’t? Uh…” Undyne cleared her throat and stood up, motioning for RG1 to do the same. “Okay, let’s head to the gym and we’ll see what you’re made of.”

As they walked to the other side of the building, RG1 took a look around the station. It wasn’t very big, with a few rows of desks for the guards to fill out paperwork. Most of them had empty chairs, probably because the guards were out on their rounds. Many of them look like they didn’t get much use. 

There were a few guards mulling about wrapping up their shifts or filling out a form of some kind. Just about all of them were trying to discreetly watch Undyne and RG1. Undyne pointed as they walked. 

“Breakroom is back there.” She pointed. “Wash your dishes and clean the microwave if you explode anything. If the vending machine eats your money, just smack it on the side a couple times and it’ll drop what you paid for. Stupid cans stick. Gym is over here.” Undyne said leading them through a doorway.

The gym was fairly large and brightly lit. There were some weight sets, a punching bag, and various different pieces of workout equipment, but about half of the gym was taken up by an open wooden floor. Racks of wooden training weapons lined one of the walls. 

“This is where we do group training, and you’re going to be doing a lot of that. We work together, so we need to learn how to fight together without cutting your partner's head off. But I want to see what I got to work with, first. Pick your weapon.” Undyne pointed to the racks. 

RG1 walked over and carefully looked over his choices. There were staves, clubs, and some wooden swords and axes of different sizes. He picked out a standard sized wooden sword and gave it a few experimental swings. As he turned to face Undyne again, he noticed that some of the remaining guards were filtering into the gym. Looks like Undyne wasn’t the only one who wanted to see what RG1 was made of. 

“Longsword?” Undyne said. “Pretty standard, but effective. Me? I like spears.” She walked over and picked out a wooden staff, and then walked back to the center of the training floor.

“Okay, here’s how it’s gonna go.” Undyne spun the staff once and then rested it on her shoulder. “You have two minutes to land a hit on me using your weapon, any magic you know, whatever. Do that, and you’re in. If you can’t…” Undyne grinned nastily “I’ll beat you senseless and throw you out on the street. You can have another go when you recover enough to walk on your own.” 

RG1 gulped, and a few of the other guards snickered. He had heard rumors about Undyne’s fiery and physical personality, not to mention her skill and strength. Still, he could do this. He only had to land a hit on her, right? It’s not like he actually had to beat her in a fight. 

“RG2, got the stopwatch?” Undyne called across the room. RG2, a dragon monster, held it up over his head and waved it. Undyne looked at RG1 “Last chance to walk out of here.” 

RG1 briefly considered it. There wouldn’t be any shame in backing down from a fight with the legendary hero of the underground, right? No, he wanted to join the guard more than anything! He had to do this. 

“No way. Bring it.” RG1 raised his sword. Undyne smiled, impressed. RG2 cleared his throat. 

“Alright, ready, set, and…”

Undyne leaned forward, crouched down, and slid one foot back, holding the wooden staff horizontally behind her back. RG1 thought that it looked like she was going to make the first move, so he bent his knees a little bit, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and gripped his sword with both hands. 

“...go!” 

Like RG1 expected, she was the one that charged first. She used her crouched position to push herself forward and cover the distance between them surprisingly quickly. RG1 bright his sword around just in time to block Undyne’s wide swing from the side. He winced as the blow rattled his arm. They weren’t exaggerating how strong she was. 

RG1 dipped his sword low and spun around, trying to hit Undyne’s other side with a spinning slash, but she just stepped back and whacked his arm with her staff. RG1 yelped and almost dropped his sword. RG1 brought his sword up and swung down at her. Undyne easily blocked it with her staff. 

“C’mon, you telegraphed those attacks for so long, you should have just mailed me a letter.” She grinned. RG1 grumbled to himself and tried switching to quicker, lighter attacks. He didn’t have to hit her hard, just hit her. Soon, the gym was filled with the rhythmic clacking and cracking of wood hitting wood. RG1 wasn’t having much luck. He didn’t really have any formal training and he just couldn’t get his sword past Undyne’s twirling staff. 

Undyne held the staff vertically to block a high, horizontal strike from RG1, and hooked the other end behind his leg to trip him up backwards. Before he knew it, he was on his back looking up at the ceiling.

“Tick, tock, tick, tock. Time’s running out.” Undyne warned. RG1 groaned, reached for his sword, and got back to his feet. Two minutes didn’t seem like a lot of time anymore. Two minutes using a weapons or...any magic he knew. Maybe he could still pull this off. 

RG1 pressed the attack again, but as he swung at Undyne, he formed some magic stars in his other hand. Undyne didn’t see it. 

“Not bad.” Undyne said, swatting the sword away with her staff. “But not good enough.” Undyne hooked her staff into the hilt of the wooden sword and twirled it around, tearing it out of his hand. RG1 took the opportunity to swing his other hand up and scatter-shot a handful of magic stars. Undyne panicked, jerked her head back, and swung her staff up. She knocked two out of the way. The rest missed. 

RG1 was left unarmed and wide open. Undyne crouched, spun, and swept RG1’s legs out from under him. Once again, he hit the mat with a grunt. 

“Time.” RG2 called out. 

RG1 sighed. Well, maybe they would go easy on him. Undyne crouched and looked down at him with a smile. 

“Clever trick!” Undyne laughed. “You have a lot of potential. You almost got me there.” 

“Almost.” RG1 grumbled. “Let’s get this over with.” 

“Relax.” Undyne gently tapped his forehead with the wooden staff. “You’re in. Little formal training and you’ll get up to speed.”

“I’m...but I didn’t…” RG1 look puzzled. Undyne laughed again. 

“I’ve been trained by Asgore since I was a kid. Even the best guards here have a hard time landing a hit on me. I just said all that 'beat you senseless' stuff because I needed to see how you fight with something on the line.” Undyne stood up and reached her hand down. “And I have to say, I’m impressed.” 

RG1 grabbed her hand and she hauled him to his feet. Undyne clapped her hand on his back, nearly knocking him forward. 

“Come back tomorrow. We’ll get you fitted for armor and get you a real weapon.” 

RG1 just nodded, still a bit confused as to what just happened. 

 

***

 

RG1 considered himself lucky, having a chair next to the window even though he was the newest guard there. It let him see what was going on outside when he was bored and in between patrols. Sometimes he got to see some interesting things. One time he saw a pair of skeletons walking by. The taller one stopped and pointed at the guard station, waving his hand excitedly, while the shorter one just nodded with a lazy smile on his face. Another day, he actually saw Mettaton roll by in all his boxy glory, being tailed by an alligator and cat. 

About a month after he started, he was sitting at his desk and watching Undyne, dressed in her guard armor, talking with a short, yellow monster in a lab coat. She had her helmet off, so RG1 could see her smiling and laughing. That wasn’t that unusual by itself, but it was a genuinely warm, happy smile, not the cocky, predatory one that RG1 was used to seeing.

RG1 heard RG2 walking past, so he reached out and tapped him. 

“Hey, who’s that?” he asked, pointing out the window. RG2 leaned over and looked out the window. 

“Oh, that’s the royal scientist, Dr. Alphys.” He said

“They seem to...get along pretty well.” RG1 said carefully.

“...Yeah. They’re...good friends.”

Undyne, turned and waved at Alphys, walking towards the front door of the station. Alphys waved back and watched her walk away with a wistful smile on her face. She stood there, grinning blankly for a few seconds before she realized what she was doing. She frantically started to look around, causing RG1 and RG2 to duck out of view. When they poked their heads back up, she was already gone. Undyne had already walked through the front door, whistling a little tune before ducking into her office. 

RG2 looked at the closed door. “You want to ask the captain for a favor, wait until right after she’s done talking to Alphys. She’s usually in a better mood.”

RG1 looked up at RG2. “They’re, like, totally in love with each other, aren’t they?”

RG2 didn’t respond. Instead, he walked back to his desk and pulled a sheet of paper out of the bottom drawer. After double checking that Undyne’s door was closed, he passed it to RG1. RG1 looked at it, realizing that it was a list of names and dates. 

“We got a pool going. Pick a date for when they, y’know, make it official. 100G. Whoever gets the closest without going over wins the pot.” RG2 whispered. 

RG1 was reaching for his pocket when Undyne’s door slammed open and she stalked out, good mood replaced by mild annoyance. RG1 quickly flipped the paper over and put it with some others on the desk, desperately trying to look like someone who was busy filling out paperwork and completely innocent of betting on his boss’ love life. 

“RG1!” Undyne yelled halfway across the room. 

“Uuuuh, yes, Captain?” RG1 said, poking his head up, cautiously. 

“C’mon. We got a call. Let’s get you some field experience.”

“Oh, uh, sure.”

 

***

 

RG1 and Undyne took the Core elevator down to the MTT resort and made their way to Hotlands. As they walked down the path away from the resort, Undyne stopped at a clearing, looking like she was lost in thought. 

“Uh...Captain? Is this where the call came from?” RG1 asked after some hesitation. 

“Huh? Oh, no. Spaced out a bit there, thinking about something.” Undyne said, shaking her head. 

“What about?”

“This is where I fought the human. It had some kind of stupid apron and a frying pan” Undyne pointed off the distance. RG1 craned his neck to see the spot she was pointing at. 

“Where those dark spots on the ground are?” 

“Yeah...humans bleed. A lot.” 

RG1 shuffled his feet, not really sure what to say. 

“Let’s go.” Undyne finally sighed. 

Undyne was miserable and sweating so hard that her hair was sticking to her face by the time they reached the tunnel in Hotlands, even with taking the shortcut through the theater. RG1 could see why she didn’t spend a lot of time at the station. The commute from Waterfall must have been miserable. 

“Well, we’re here.” Undyne said flatly.

“Someone seriously lives in this place?” RG1 said, trying to peer into the darkness. There were cobwebs everywhere. 

“More like she haunts it.” Undyne said, stepping inside. RG1 followed close behind. This place gave him fifty different kinds of chills, but he figured that backing out of his first bit of field work wouldn’t look good on his performance review. 

“Yo! Anyone home!?” Undyne yelled. RG1 waited for her voice to echo back to them, but it was almost like the dust and cobwebs trapped it in the darkness. He swore that he heard a faint scratching, instead. 

“Royal guard! Anyone here?” She yelled again. After a few more seconds of silence, she sighed and her shoulders sagged. 

There was a sound like...something sliding across the ground? No, it was a hiss of some kind, and it pushed a little button at the base of his rabbit-brain labeled ‘Predator’. He needed to get out of here. 

“Maybe we should, like, come back later?” RG1, said hopefully. Undyne gave him a withering glare. 

“I am NOT making this trip again!” She snapped. 

It was then that RG1 saw it. In the dim light, a huge shadow loomed behind Undyne. He took a step back. 

“Captain…” he said, quietly

Undyne sighed and he shoulders sagged. “Look, I’m sorry for snapping at you, the heat is-”

“Captain, get down!” RG1 yelled, summoning a large, four pointed throwing star in his hand readying a throw. 

Undyne would admit that she was many things. Impulsive. Emotional. Loud. However, despite what some people thought, one thing that Undyne was not was stupid. She had watched anime with Alphys and she had seen what happens when the hero looks over someone’s shoulder and yells “get down.” 

Undyne didn’t bother turning around. She dove forward as a vicious, scything claw missed her head by inches. She twisted sideways, rolled, and came back up on one knee with her spear in hand. RG1 let loose his magic throwing star. There was a short burst of light, briefly illuminating a giant, toothy maw and far too many eyes. The thing shrieked, and backed away into the darkness. 

Undyne sighed in relief and patted RG1 on the shoulder. “That was close. Thanks.”

“Uh...yeah, sure. What was that th-”

“How dare you!” Someone screamed at them from the darkness above them. The both of them looked up to see a dainty, purple, six-armed monster lower herself, upside down, from a long, white cord of webbing. She stopped a few feet from the ground so she could look Undyne in the face, even while she was hanging upside down.

“What’s the meaning of this? You come into my house and attack my poor, innocent Muffin.” 

“What?! Muffet, your ‘Muffin’ almost took my head off!”

“He was just playing. Muffin does so enjoy visitors.” Muffet smiled, baring her fangs, making RG1 shiver a bit. “And you wouldn’t have to play with him if you didn’t come into my home in the first place.” She sniffed.

“Muffet, this is a tunnel. There’s a public road going through here.” Undyne sighed

“And therefore it should be very easy for you to use to leave.” Muffet replied, making ‘Shoo’ gestures with two of her hands. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Muffet started to rise back towards the ceiling.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Undyne hopped up and grabbed one of Muffet’s arms, pulling her back down to face level.

“What?! Get your hands off of me you, you, brutish barracuda!” Muffet protested.

“I didn’t make the trip through this oven for nothing.” Undyne said. Muffet, folded four of her arms in front of her and stared down Undyne. It should have been easy, since Muffet had Undyne outnumbered on eyes, five to one, but Undyne wasn’t going to back down. 

“Look, we’ve been getting complaints about people living around here that you and...Muffin are hassling people who walk through here for donations for your spider charity or whatever. They say you’ve been intimidating them. Knock it off!” 

“I’m not intimidating them! If they don’t want to donate, they’re free to go through anyway.” Muffet said. Undyne gave her a skeptical look. Muffet hesitated before finally saying “Okay, so maybe I have a resting ‘hungry’ face. I can’t help that!” 

“Either way, it’s got to stop, or-”

“Or what?!” Muffet shot back indignantly. She tried pull herself back up her web, but Undyne held firm. 

“Or I’ll toss you in jail!” 

“You don’t even have a jail!”

“I’ll kick your butt!” 

“You don’t scare me!”

“I’ll levy a nice, fat, fine.”

“...Well, there’s no need to get nasty.” Muffet huffed. “So how am I supposed to raise money, then?”

“Not my problem.” Undyne shot back. RG1 cleared his throat, and both Undyne and Muffet turned to look at him. 

“Uh...when the newspaper needed to raise money, they had, like, a bake sale, you know? They made these really good carrot cake cupcakes and...uh...” He said with a hesitant voice. 

“A bake sale…” Muffet looked thoughtful. 

“There. See? Problem solved.” Undyne said, smugly. “So, stop mugging people in dark tunnels.”

“Fine. You said your piece. Now let me go before I -” Muffet shot out of view with a yelp as Undyne let go of her arm and the tension on her web was released all at once. Undyne jammed her helmet back on as they walked out of the tunnel, so she wasn’t able to see Muffet shaking her fist at them from halfway up the line of web. 

“Oh, RG1?” Undyne said after a few seconds. 

“Yeah?”

“Don’t do what I just did. It’s unprofessional.”

“Uh...right. Got it.”


	2. Keep Your Friends Close

A few days later, RG1 and RG2 were talking idly as they walked out of the resort hotel, having just polished off a couple of glamburgers for dinner. 

“Hey, bro. Is it just me, or has the captain been, like, kind of out of it?” RG1 asked. RG2 nodded.

“She looks like she hasn’t been sleeping enough.” he said. 

“Does she usually have problems sleeping?” RG1 asked, rubbing the back of his head. RG2 shook his head. 

“No, and I’ve known her since she joined. She wasn’t like that before she got promoted.” He sighed. “Maybe the new job is getting to her.”

“Huh...so you’ve worked here longer than her?” RG1 looked a bit puzzled. 

“Oh, yeah. A few of us have.”

“Were you guys, like, mad when she got promoted over you?”

“No way.” RG2 shook his head. “She earned it. She fought a human and won.” 

“Woah…” RG1 said, wide eyed.

“Yeah, that’s how she...uh…” RG2 gestured at his eye. 

“Oh...harsh.”

“Yeah, I got to hear all about it. It sounded really bad. She almost died. Bounced right back, though. She wanted to get right back to work. Asgore himself had to order her to stay home for a while.”

“Huh…” RG1 looked thoughtful. 

Undyne has a reputation for being one of the toughest monsters underground, and she had the scars to prove it. Monsters were extremely fragile compared to humans, so one that survive injuries like Undyne had received was almost unheard of . His train of thought was derailed when RG2 patted him on the shoulder. 

“Hey, look who it is.” RG2 pointed ahead of them. 

RG1 turned to see Alphys up the road a little ways. She was leaning on a box that was almost as big as she was, breathing heavily. They both watched as Alphys leaned down and slowly picked up the box.  She struggled, managing to walk a few more feet before dropping it again. RG1 snickered a bit. 

“Man, she’s going to be at it all day at that rate.” He said. 

“Heh, yeah. I’m surprised she even got it that far.” RG2 replied

“Yeah. I bet I could pick that up with one hand.” RG1 flexed. RG2 looked a bit thoughtful. 

“Think we should help her?” RG2 asked. “Might make Undyne happy.”

“Eh...yeah, sure. Why not?” RG1 shrugged. He could play nice for a bit if it meant that Undyne would be in a better mood. 

“Hey, Doc!” RG2 called as they walked forward. Alphys jumped and stiffened up. She slowly turned around as the two guards came up to her. RG1 could see that she looked terrified for a split second before she recognized them and exhaled, relaxing a bit.

“Oh! Uh..h-hi there.” She waved. “S-s-sorry. You startled me a...a bit.” 

“No big deal.” RG1 waved his hand. “Need a hand with that?”

“Uh...w-with…” Alphys turned around and looked at the box, like she forgot it was there. “Oh! Uh...it’s okay! It’s okay. I can get it. I don’t...don’t want to trouble you two.”   
“No trouble.” RG2 said. “RG1 here was going to go check the bridge to the waterfall anyway.”

“I was?” RG1 needed a second to catch up. “Oh, yeah. I was, like, putting that off until later, but I should probably do it now.”

“Oh. Uh…” Alphys tapped her fingers together. “Well...I guess if...if you were going that direction anyway...yeah, I-I would ap-apreciate it a lot. Thanks.” She smiled a bit.

“Right. I’ll meet you back at the station.” RG2 waved at RG1 and started off in the other direction. RG1 sighed. That’s what he got for bragging. Oh well. Alphys stepped out of the way and RG1 picked up the box with a grunt.

“Oof! This thing is heavy. You were going to carry it all the way back to your lab? What’s in here?” RG1 cradled the box in front of him and started towards the elevator. Alphys trotted to keep up. 

“Oh, it’s uh...just some...stuff I got from the Core. Notebooks, chemicals, machine parts, that sort of thing

“Chemicals and machine parts? Trying to, like, make something?” RG1 asked. 

RG1 waited for an answer while Alphys looked pensive. When they got to the elevator, Alphys reached up and pushed the button.

“...Doc?”

“Trying to fix something.” Alphys finally said quietly. The elevator dinged and the door opened. They both stepped inside, and Alphys hit a button on the panel. 

“Uh...what are you trying to fix?” RG1 asked nervously. He knew the last royal scientist built the Core, which powered the entire underground, but the fact that she was getting parts from there made him nervous. 

Alphys looked up like she just snapped out of a trance. 

“Oh! Uh...nothing! Nothing you...you have to w-w-worry about. Just uh...heh...p-pet project...of...of mine. From a while ago.”

“Oh.” RG1 was still a bit skeptical, but Alphys looked even more uncomfortable than usual, so he didn’t push it. 

The stood in an awkward silence for a bit longer, until the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Alphys didn’t speak up again until they came to the door of the lab. 

“Uh…I’m sorry, that you had to carry that for me. I-I-I wanted to see if...if I could get everything I needed in one trip and...someone had to help me fix my mistake. Again.”

“S’okay. Just tell me where to put it.” RG1 grunted. He was strong, but the box was starting to feel pretty heavy. 

“Just-just right inside the door. Thanks.” Alphys punched a number into the panel next to the door. 

There was a beep and the door slid open. RG1 stepped inside and immediately turned and set the box down. As he straightened up, he took the opportunity to look around the lab a bit. It was big, and surprisingly empty. All he could really see that looked scientific was a big screen with a control panel and Alphys’ desk. RG1 once heard that you should never trust someone with a clean desk. If that was true, he could trust Alphys (along with Undyne, now that he thought about it) with his life. It was full of empty noodle cups, papers, sticky notes, disks, and who knows what else. It still felt like there should be more...stuff here. 

Alphys must have noticed him looking around, because she started talking nervously. 

“I’m-I’m sorry about the...the mess. I wasn’t expecting...anyone t-t-to c-come...over. Heh.” She rubbed the back of her head. “Uh...if...if there’s anything I can do to...to repay you...uh…”

“You could go out with Undyne.” RG1 said absent-mindedly.

“G-g-go out?” Alphys looked at RG1 with a odd mix of confusion and fear. RG1 cringed. He didn’t mean to say that out loud. 

“Er...well, I mean she needs a break. She’s been working late a lot. Maybe get her to go do something fun and unwind before she starts biting our heads off.” RG1 said, which was true enough. 

“Oh...uh...okay. I’ll try and figure something out.” Alphys nodded. 

 

***

 

By the time that RG1 had gotten back from his patrol, most of the lights at the station were turned off and everyone had gone home. He sighed and made his way to his desk to fill out the after patrol report so he could go lock the place up and go home. As he was searching his desk for a pen, he stopped when he heard a muffled thudding from the workout room. 

Looks like  _ almost _ everyone had gone home.

Overcome by curiosity, he walked over to the back of the station and peered through the doorway. 

Undyne was at the large punching bag in the back of the room, wearing her trademark jeans and black tank top instead of her armor. She bounced on bent legs, weaving back and forth as she landed blow after blow with unusual viciousness. RG1 was a bit worried that the chain that held the bag to the ceiling would fail if she kept this up. Was she angry about something? It was hard to read her face from this angle, but she didn’t look particularly angry. 

Geeze. Her hands weren’t even wrapped. She could really hurt herself this way. He had to say something. 

“Uh, hey, Captain. Didn’t think anyone would be here this late.” He said, walking into the room. Undyne stopped and leaned on the punching bag, panting heavily and sweat dripping off of her face. 

“Just...blowing off...a little steam.” She said breathlessly. She stood up straight again and started opening and closing her hands. Her face twisted up in pain.

“Uh, Captain? With all due respect, hitting that hard without gloves is, like, really stupid. You’re going to break something.” RG1 said quietly. He didn’t really want to back talk his boss, but...he really didn’t want to see her hurt herself either.

“It’s fine.” Undyne said shortly. She looked at her hand, flexing it a few more times. 

RG1 didn’t know if she meant that her hand is fine, or it’s fine if she breaks something. He wasn’t sure how to ask. 

“Uh...is everything alright?” he probed.

“Yeah, fine. Why?” Undyne turned to him, looking a bit puzzled. 

“Because with all due respect, you look like crap.” He said, crossing his arms in front of him. Undyne scowled at him. 

“I didn’t sleep so well last night, okay?” She said defensively

“Insomnia?” RG1 ventured.

“Nah...just...bad dreams. It happens, don’t worry about it. It’s late. Go home.” Undyne waved him away. 

She picked a towel up off of a nearby bench, sat down, and pressed her face into it. It was obvious she didn’t want to talk anymore. RG1 sighed and turned to leave. As he did, he noticed a big cork board next to the door. There were flyers and announcements pinned to it, along with a few pictures. More out of curiosity than anything, he scanned some of the photos. 

It was mostly just pictures of royal guards doing things together. There was one of Undyne and a guard he didn’t recognize having an arm wrestling match, with other guards cheering them on. Another showed a bunch of guards gathering around a pizza, with a cake on a table in the background. Undyne had one of those silly party hats on and looked a bit embarrassed. A third one had a bunch of guards lined up outside, posing for the camera like a class photo. King Asgore stood off to the side next to a large grill, holding a spatula and wearing a sauce-stained apron. They were all smiling at the camera. It must have been pretty recent. There was only one person he didn’t recognize. The same person that Undyne was arm wrestling in the first picture. 

“This the old Captain?” RG1 asked, tapping the picture. 

Undyne looked up and peered at what he was pointing at. 

“Yeah. He was a good guy.” She smiled. She stood up, threw the towel over her shoulder, and walked over to where RG1 was standing. “Pretty strong, too.” 

“Who won?” RG1 asked, 

“Who do you think?” Undyne smirked. 

“I dunno, he looks pretty big.”

“Shut up!” She shot back, but she was smiling. She pointed at the pizza party picture. “This was my first anniversary with the guard. Everyone made a big deal about it. I think they trying to embarrass me, but it was...nice, you know?” 

“Yeah. How come I don’t see him here?” 

“He was taking the picture.” Undyne said. She pointed at the last picture. “This was the annual cookout from last year. Asgore makes a mean burger.” 

“That figures. He seems like the type of guy.” RG1 laughed. 

“Heh. Yeah.” Undyne tapped his image on the picture. “He shows up every year with a grill and that silly old apron....” She trailed off. 

“Must be nice to have the king cook for you. He’s pretty good with fire magic, right?” RG1 turned to look at her.

Undyne was deathly silent. The muscles in her arm started to tense up. 

“...Captain?” 

Undyne still had her finger on the picture, staring intently. Her face looked, just...blank, like she was hypnotized. RG1 looked at the picture. Her fingernail was digging into the photo, right in the middle of Asgore’s grubby looking apron. 

“Captain, you okay?” RG1 was starting to get concerned. Undyne didn’t reply. She didn’t acknowledge him at all. Her breathed started to get ragged. She slowly lowered her hand from the picture, let it hang at her side, and made a tight fist, like she was holding onto something for dear life. 

“...Undyne?” RG1 reached his hand out and and waved it in front of her face, trying to get her attention.

That got a reaction. 

“No!” Undyne screamed. Her hand shot up with the speed of a viper and clamped down on his wrist. She wrenched his arm away so hard that RG1 yelped in pain and dropped to one knee. He looked up at her face, trying to figure out what he did wrong.

Undyne looked absolutely terrified.

“C-captain?” RG1 said, almost pleading. Undyne blinked once or twice. She looked down at her hand, gasped, and pulled it away like she had just grabbed something that was red hot. 

“Dammit!” Undyne stepped away from him. “I’m, I’m sorry. I was...I.” Undyne winced like she was in pain and held her hand over her eyepatch. “RG1, please don’t reach for my face like that again.” She grumbled.

“Uh, right. Sorry.” RG1 said warily. He shook his hand a couple times. His wrist felt like he got caught in a bear trap. “What was that…” RG1 trailed off as Undyne pulled her hand away from her face. A bit of dusty ash trickled out from under her eyepatch and onto her cheek.  

“What?” Undyne looked at RG1, puzzled. 

“You got...something…” RG1 pointed to the same spot on his own face. Undyne reached up and rubbed the ash off of her face. As she looked at her fingers, her good eye shot open in panic. 

“Dammit!” She clamped her hand over her eye-patch and bolted for the dressing room. RG1 stared after her, wondering what the heck just happened. He walked to the door and put his ear to it. All he could hear was the sink running. 

RG1 hesitated, feeling a bit strange about following her into the changing room, but eventually, he slowly pushed the door open. 

Undyne was leaning over the sink, splashing water on her face. Her eyepatch was laying on the tile floor a few feet away. She was facing away from the door, but after she wiped her face off, RG1 could see her reflection. The skin around the formally covered empty eye socket was a sickly gray, and it looked like it had started to spread down the side of her face. Undyne must have saw him in the mirror.

“It looks...like when I woke up in the hospital.” Undyne said, sadly. “After my fight with the human.” 

“Uh, what happened out there, Undyne?” RG1 asked, stepping inside. 

“I don’t know. It was...like I was there all over again” Undyne winced and held her head. “Lots of blood and screaming and...then it reached up and...ah, dammit.” 

“Oh.” RG1 looked a bit sheepish. That’s why she didn’t like people reaching for her face. “Do you want me to, like, call a doctor or something?”

“Nah.” Undyne took another close look in the mirror. “I think it’s going away.” 

Sure enough, the color was slowly starting to return to her face. RG1 wasn’t convinced though. Just the fact that it happened at all was pretty frightening. 

“Are you sure? I mean that was...kinda scary.”

“It’s fine, RG1.” Undyne said, a little more forcefully this time. She reached down, picked her eyepatch back up and slipped it back over her head. “I’ll lock up and see you tomorrow.” 

“If you say so.” RG1 said warily. 

“I do. And, please, please, don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t need my guards thinking their captain is going to fall apart on them. Comprende?” 

“Uh...com-what?”

“Do. You. Understand.” Undyne growled, perhaps a bit more forcefully than she meant to. 

“Oh...uh, yeah. Got it. Understood. Comprendo.” RG1 nodded quickly. 

“Thanks. Please, just...go home.” She said. RG1 turned around and made a hasty retreat. 

He pulled the picture off of the corkboard on the way out. 

 

***

 

RG1 was looking for a new date to pick in the office “dating pool”. Whenever the date someone picks has passed by with Alphys and Undyne becoming official, they were allowed to buy a new one. 

The pot was getting pretty big by this point.

“Man, this is getting, like, ridiculous.” RG1 grumbled. 

“Yeah.” RG2 sighed from behind him. “But, I might have found something.” 

“What’s that?” RG1 asked. RG2 tapped him on the shoulder with a rolled up newspaper. 

“Page four. Bottom corner.” RG2 said. RG1 grabbed the newspaper, opened it, and folded it back. There was an add for a couples night at the fancy restaurant in the MTT resort. 

“Huh…” He said quietly. It’s a little obvious, but it could work. He sat there thinking of a way that he could get Undyne to find it. 

He was so deep in thought, he didn’t hear footsteps behind him. 

“Hey, RG2.” RG1 turned around to face his co-worker. “You think maybe we could…” he trailed off as he spun around and came face to face with Undyne. His heart sank as Undyne plucked the paper from his hand and checked the page.

“What’s so interesting here?” Undyne said off as she looked directly at the ad. She glanced back at RG2, who was suddenly very busy with some paperwork. Undyne looked at RG1 with a blank, unreadable expression. 

“RG1, swing by my office when you get a chance.” She said in an unusually calm tone that was far from comforting. 

RG1 gulped. He briefly wondered if he should grab his helmet for when Undyne would inevitably throw him through the wall. He ultimately decided it probably wouldn't help much. There was a stifling silence as RG1 followed Undyne back to her office. 

“Close the door.” She said quietly, as they stepped inside. RG1 hesitated before reaching behind him and gently pushing the door shut. He felt like he was closing a coffin, so he nearly yelled when Undyne threw her arm over his shoulder and grinned. Man, her teeth looked sharp. 

“Now, I’m guessing this is all just a silly misunderstanding, but just I wanted to clear a few things up, okay?”

RG1 nodded stiffly, hoping the chewing out wouldn’t be too bad. 

“Now, I noticed that you requested extra patrols with RG2. Seems like you too get along pretty well. And that’s fine. He’s a stand up guy. Been on the guard longer than I have.” 

“Uh...yeah. I mean, we’re kinda bros by now.” RG1 suddenly had no idea where this was going. 

“Good. Glad to hear it. I should probably remind you that Royal Guard policy official discourages dating within the ranks.” Undyne continued. 

“I’m...like...not following…” RG1 trailed off. Oh, jeeze. She thought he had a crush on RG2. 

“Right, right. Like I said. Just a misunderstanding.” Undyne nodded sagely. “But if you wanted to spend some more time with your...you know...totally and completely platonic good friend, I don’t see a reason why I can’t shuffle the patrols around a little bit.” Undyne grinned.

RG1’s mind was racing. Okay, what was worse? Undyne thinking he wanted to date RG2, or figuring out that they were butting into her personal life. 

Her teeth were really close to his neck. 

“Uh...that’s...like...really cool of you, Captain.” RG1 said slowly. “Thanks.”

“No problem. After all, you two work well together. Only makes sense that you would...get along so well. And of course, what you guys do off the clock is none of my business.” Undyne closed her eye in an exaggerated fashion. 

RG1 looked confused. Undyne pointed at her face. 

“I’m...I’m winking...” She said lamely. She sighed, cleared her throat, and smacked RG1 on the back. “Ho’kay, back to work!”  

“Oh, yeah. Sure thing.” RG1 opened the door as quietly as he could. The room was as silent as a graveyard as he walked back to his desk, sat down, and concentrated on his paperwork. After a few seconds, after it was obvious that RG1 wasn’t cleaning out his desk, the quiet, ambient noise of writing and paper shuffling picked back up. RG1 was staring at the form in front of him, but he was too deep in thought to actually bother reading it. 

He was a bit relieved that Undyne didn’t figure out what was happening, and he thought it was kind of funny that she thought he wanted to go on a date with RG2. Not that there was anything wrong with that. RG1 just never really looked at RG2 that way. So, yeah, they worked together really well, and got along. And RG2 wasn’t that bad looking. That didn’t mean anything. Just because he had big biceps and rock hard abs and…

Aw nuts. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

“Pst!”

RG1 nearly jumped out of his skin as RG2 tried to get his attention. 

“Dude, what happened?” RG2 asked.

“Oh, uh...n...nothing. She thought we were talking about something else.” He said stiffly. 

“Whew, close call.” RG2 replied. 

“Yeah.” RG1 lifted his head up to look at the door to Undyne’s office, just as Undyne was stepping out. She caught his eye, smiled and gave him a thumbs up. RG1 turned red and hid behind his paperwork. 

“...What was that about, dude?” RG2 asked. 

“Don’t want to talk about it.” RG1 grumbled.


	3. A Long Way Down

RG1 was walking past Undyne's office to the break room when he overheard something coming from behind her door.

“C’mon, Al. Pick up.” She mumbled. RG1 took a step backwards and leaned his head back to look in. Undyne held the phone to her ear with one hand and propped her head up with the other. She looked really tired, worse than RG1 remembered her looking. There was a faint beep and Undyne took a deep breath to steady herself. 

“Alphys? It’s Undyne. Gimme a call as soon as you can...please.” She hung up and sighed. 

“Something wrong?” RG1 said, making Undyne jump a bit. 

“Oh, uh…” Undyne looked embarrassed for a split second, but her face softened. ”I can’t get ahold of Alphys. I haven’t heard from her in a few days. I mean, sometimes she gets wrapped up in some kind of...sciency thing, but I’m getting worried.” 

“Want to go check on her?”

“I...I do, yeah, but what if she’s fine?” Undyne leaned her head on her hand. Her desk wobbled gently as she bounced her leg. 

“Then you’ll look kind of silly.” RG1 shrugged.

“Well...yeah.”

“What if she’s not?” 

Undyne looked thoughtful, tapping her finger on the desk. 

“Let’s go.” She said, standing up. 

 

***

 

The two were in a hurry, so they didn't bother putting on their armor. Undyne put her hand up to the pad next to the big, metal door and hesitated. She closed her eye, deep in thought. 

“Zero...six...one…? No, wait. Zero, seven, one, six, eight, eight.” Undyne punched in the numbers as she said them and the door slid open. Undyne fumbled for the lights and, finding the switch, flipped them on, illuminating the dark, cavernous lab. 

“Alphys? You here?” Undyne called out, but was just met with silence. “I’ll check her room. You stay here.” Undyne said to RG1 and pointed to the ground. 

“Right.” RG1 nodded.

While she walked off, RG1 took an opportunity to look around. Her desk was still pretty messy, but there were a lot of crumpled papers and not a lot of empty noodle cups. She must have been really wrapped up in her project. Next to the desk was a big whiteboard, covered with what looked like a lot of math-y looking symbols...or just really messy handwriting. Whatever it was, there was a bunch of red X’s through each chunk of writing. 

Oh boy, the project she was telling him about must have gone badly. 

Something colorful on the floor against the wall caught his eye. He walked over, squatted down, and picked up a small anime figurine in his hand. One of the arms was knocked off. It looked like it had been thrown against the wall.

“Well, she isn’t here.” Undyne said, walking back down the stairs. She looked at RG1 and raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?” 

RG1 stood up and showed her the figurine. Undyne walked over, plucked it out of his hand, and inspected it it. 

“Looks like she threw it.” RG1 said.

“This was her favorite one.” Undyne sighed, with a concerned expression. “She must have been really upset about something.” 

“Looks like she was doing some science stuff.”

“This happens sometimes.” Undyne said quietly. “She gets really passionate about stuff sometimes, you know? So if it falls apart, she’s really hard on herself and gets down in the dumps.” Undyne froze, and then her eye opened wide. “ _ That’s _ where she is!”

“Uh...what?” RG1 look puzzled. 

“Follow me!” Undyne pocketed the figurine and ran for the door. 

 

***

 

RG1 and Undyne arrived at the garbage dump, slightly out of breath. RG1 looked dismayed on seeing the size of the place.. Where would they even start looking?

“C’mon, I think I know where she is.” Undyne tugged his arm.

Undyne led him through the ankle deep water, weaving between mounds of garbage. It was like walking through a maze, but Undyne seemed to know where they were going. 

“C’mon, we’re almost...there.” Undyne hesitated as a low rumble echoed through the Underground. It started out as a low, dull roar, but steadily got louder. 

“What’s that?” RG1 looked nervous.

“It almost sounds like…” Undyne’s expression became panicked.“...the river!”

“What?” 

“Climb!” Undyne screamed and dragged RG1 towards the closest mound of trash. Undyne made it all the way to the top in one jump. RG1 started to scramble up the side of the pile, but an impatient Undyne grabbed his shirt and pulled him the rest of the way up.Catching his breath, he looked back down at the water. It was rapidly rising and flowing faster, carrying away alarmingly large pieces of garbage. 

“This is bad.” Undyne said shakily. RG1 looked around. It looked like so much garbage had amassed here that the piles were starting to merge together, and the water hadn’t climbed very far yet. RG1 still wasn’t sure where they were going, but figured they probably could go from pile to pile without touching the water. 

“C’mon.” RG1 pointed. “We can take the high road.” 

“Good thinking.” Undyne nodded. “Let’s go.”

 

***

 

RG1 was struggling to keep up with Undyne, who was not only smaller and faster, but a lot more used to traversing the dump. Undyne didn’t seem keen on waiting, and RG1 couldn’t blame her, but he didn’t want to get lost in a flooding garbage dump. 

Luckily, before Undyne got too far ahead, they had reached their destination:The Abyss, where Undyne and Alphys first met. 

The normally slow and steady waterfall that flowed into The Abyss was now a whitewater torrent. Most of it ran right down the seemingly bottomless pit, but enough had been diverted into the rest of the dump to raise the water level. 

“Must have been, like, a flood or something aboveground.” RG1 said. Undyne had other things on her mind. 

“Alphys!” Undyne yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Al! Say something!” Undyne’s voice was nearly drowned out by the roar of the waterfall. Undyne was starting to look panicked. Were they too late, and Alphys got washed away already? RG1 narrowed his eyes and scanned the heaps of garbage around them. After a nerve wracking number of seconds, he spotted a patch of white and yellow, clinging to the side of a pile of garbage close to the mouth of the abyss. 

“There!” RG1 pointed. Undyne followed his finger. Instantly, her good eye shot open and she darted off without a word, tearing across the refuse towards the stranded lizard. RG1 swore and started after her. 

It took a bit of tricky navigation and a few stumbles as trash shifted from the raging waters around them, but they made it to the pile Alphys was clinging to. 

“Al!” Undyne yelled down at her. Alphys looked up in surprise. 

“N-n-no! Don’t! It’s too dangerous!” She stammered. Undyne tried to reach down to grab her, but she was too far away. She tried to find a way down to Alphys, but the slope of the pile was too steep. 

“We have to do something! We can’t just leave her there!” Undyne said, turning to RG1. RG1 wracked his brain for a solution. There had to be some way to do this. The garbage they stood on was pretty tightly packed, so there wasn’t much danger of it washing away. Alphys,however, could only hold on for so long. 

Wait, tightly packed…

“Undyne! Your spear!” He shouted, suddenly. Undyne shot him a puzzled look.. She was about to argue, but she had to trust him. Undyne summoned a spear and  held it out to RG1. RG1 grabbed it, pointed it downwards, and drove it into the pile of refuse with both hands. He gave it an experimental jiggle to make sure it was wedged in good and tight.

“I’ll hang on to this and lower you down!” He shouted over the current. Undyne looked down at Alphys with worry. She turned to RG1 and nodded with determination in her eye. . Then, grabbing  onto each other’s wrists, RG1 guided her down the side of the garbage pile. 

Undyne tried to reach down to Alphys, but the distance between them was still too far.. 

“Al! Grab my hand.” Undyne shouted. Alphys looked up at Undyne with fear. She closed her eyes and shook her head. 

“G-get someplace safe! I’ll...I c-c-can hang on until the flooding stops!” 

“Al, don’t be stupid. What if you can’t? You’ll get swept right over the edge.”

“Then...then that’s what happens.” Alphys said after some hesitation. Undyne looked shocked. 

“Al…”

“I’m...I’m always messing up. I...I cause problems and then I...c-c-can’t fix them myself. I always need help dealing with...stuff that’s my fault.”

“Alphys.” Undyne said slowly. “There’s nothing wrong with needing help. We’re friends, right? Friends help each other. Friends support each other, especially when things are bad. It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is. I mean...I need help sometimes too, even if I’m too thickheaded to ask for it, you know?”

Alphys quietly looked up at Undyne with a sad expression. 

“Al, I can help, but I need you to reach out for me, okay? I know it’s scary, but you have to trust me.” Undyne said calmly, reaching towards her. “I promise I won’t let you fall.”

“I’ll...I’ll just drag you down with me.” Alphys said quietly. Undyne shook her head. 

“RG1 is my friend too. I trust him. He won’t let me fall either” 

Alphys lowered her head and pressed it against the side of the slope, taking deep breaths.

“Al....please.” Undyne said, almost too quiet to hear. Alphys looked up at Undyne, and saw something she never remembered seeing before. Undyne looked scared and desperate, afraid of being so close to losing something...someone very dear to her, and not being able to do anything about it. 

Alphys took a deep breath, shifted her weight, and grabbed Undyne’s hand. 

Alphys lost her grip on the steep slope and started to slide down, but Undyne held on with desperate strength. RG1 grunted at the sudden extra weight, but he managed to hold on as well. Undyne pulled Alphys up to her, and held the shaking lizard to her chest. 

“Gotcha” Undyne gasped. She pulled her legs up and dug her feet into the slope, and then looked up at RG1

“Ready?” She asked. RG1 could only nod. His arm felt like it was on fire. “Pull!”

RG1 growled, and then roared, and between Undyne pushing with her legs and RG1 pulling her up, the three of them tumbled onto the top of the trash pile. 

There was a brief silence as they all caught their breaths. Undyne started to stand up, but she only got as far as her knees before Alphys clung onto her waist and buried her face into Undyne’s shirt, sobbing. Undyne looked surprised,but tried patting Alphys on the back. 

“Alphys? You’re okay. It’s fine. We’re safe.” 

“I’m s-s-sorry. I’m so sorry.” Alphys sobbed endlessly .. Undyne closed her eyes and held Alphys close to her. She looked up, locked eyes with RG1 and gave a sharp nod, mouthing ‘Thank you’. 

RG1, nodded back, sat up, and looked out over the dump, admiring their stable little island of trash among the raging water. 

 

***

 

Alphys and Undyne sat together in silence for a while, taking time to calm down, but eventually began to quietly converse.  RG1 sat some distance away, pretending not to hear, but big rabbit ears could pick up quite a lot. 

Alphys asked what Undyne meant when she said that she needed help sometimes too. Undyne was hesitant at first, but then it all came pouring out. She wasn’t sleeping well because she was having nightmares about her fight with the human that gouged out her eye . She talked about the jumpiness and moodiness and pain behind where her eye used to be. She talked about pushing herself to the point of causing her body pain and damage. She talked about the flashback she had when she was in the gym with RG1, and how her old wound actually came back. 

Alphys, for her part, sat and listened, while turning her figurine that Undyne had rescued over in her hand. She nodded politely and asked questions, obviously concerned about her friend. 

The water had pretty much abated by now, but RG1 didn’t say anything. He figured they needed time to talk. 

“I’m...I’m sorry, Undyne. I didn’t know…”Alphys started, putting a hand on Undyne’s shoulder. Undyne just shrugged. 

“I didn’t tell anyone. I thought I could just...deal with it, you know? And you had your own stuff to deal with...and...I didn’t know either.” Undyne said.

“Heh. I g-guess we both got a bit...wrapped up in our...our problems.” Alphys tried to smile.

“Yeah.” Undyne smiled back. “Let’s...try to talk to each other more, y’know? Might be good.” 

“Yeah.” 

There was a silence between the two. 

“Uh...Undyne.” Alphys finally spoke up. “Can...do you think you can help pick up around the lab a bit? I k-kind of…” She trailed off. 

“Yeah, sure.” Undyne said quickly. “We can talk about...stuff while we work.”

“Yeah…” Alphys repeated, for lack of anything better to say. It was getting awkward. RG1 decided to speak up. 

“Hey, looks like the water’s gone back down.” He called back to them. 

“Oh! Good.” Undyne got back to her feet, and pulled Alphys back to hers. “Uh, look, RG1, I’m gonna be taking some time off. Do you think you can...post a message on the bulletin board or something?”

“Sure.” RG1 nodded. 

“You got my cell number if anything goes wrong, right?” Undyne asked, but RG1 waved his hand. 

“Don’t worry. We’ll hold the fort. Take, like, all the time you need.” 

“Uh...right. Thanks. For everything.” Undyne smiled. 

 

***

 

When RG1 got back to the barracks some time later, RG2 found him pretty much as soon as he stepped foot in the door. 

“RG1, what happened? Where have you been? Where’s Undyne?” He questioned worriedly. 

“Dude, you would not believe what happened today. C’mon. I’ll tell you about it.”


	4. Epilogue

“It’s been a little while, huh?” RG1 said. 

“Kind of, yeah.” Undyne replied. 

The two of them walked down the narrow road, shaded from the bright sun by dense, leafy trees. It was a beautiful day on the surface, and RG1 like to spend a lot of time outside on days like these. 

Although RG1 and RG2 had moved in together, without a real purpose, most of the guard had drifted apart after they had reached surface. Today, though, they decided to have a little reunion at Grillby’s new place. 

“How’s your boyfriend?” Undyne grinned. 

“Oh, he’s fine. He went earlier to get table” RG1 waved his hand in the general direction they were walking. “How are you doing?” 

“Pretty good.” Undyne shrugged. 

“So...like...that thing you had, with the bad dreams and stuff, is cured?” RG1 asked carefully. 

Undyne sighed. “I don’t really think it’s something that gets ‘cured’, but I’m doing better than I was. I sleep better now, and memories aren’t as bad.”

“Oh, well that’s good, I guess.” RG1 said. 

“Did you know it’s something humans get too? They just don’t get the whole wounds-coming-back deal.” Undyne pointed to her eye-patch. “That’s a monster thing. Something about the whole soul, emotions, body, magic, whatever.” She waved her hand like it wasn’t important. 

“In any case, me and Alphys have our good days and bad days, you know? But we’re there for each other, so it’s okay.” Undyne added.

“...She was thinking about jumping, wasn’t she?” RG1 asked quietly. 

Undyne looked up at him with surprise. Sometimes RG1 was smarter than he let on. 

“What are you...Hey! Look, I didn’t say...I mean, that’s none of your...I…” Undyne sighed, and her shoulders sagged, but she still looked annoyed. “You’re about a subtle as a brick, you know that? And that’s coming from me.”

Uh...sorry...I was just…” RG1 trailed off dumbly. 

They walked quietly for a few minutes. 

“...You know what’s ridiculous about it all?” Undyne said, breaking the silence. “She thought she was a coward. Isn't that weird? I had to fight someone who wanted me dead, once. And that was hard. She had to deal with that day after day, and she couldn’t walk away from it. And she thinks she’s, weak for those times where she...she  _ almost _ lost that battle. I wish I could be that strong.”

“Well, she’s got backup now.” RG1 said. 

“Yeah.” Nodded and smiled. 

“Hey, here it is.” RG1 pointed to the building up the street. Undyne was curious about what Grillby would name the new place, but the sign above the old building just said “Grillby’s” it was even the same sign he used underground. 

Well, at least he was consistent. 

 

***

 

“Guess who’s back, guys!” Undyne yelled as she threw the doors open. Several former guards, all seated at a huge table in the middle of the bar, let out a loud cheer. Grillby looked up from filling a tray of drinks long enough to give Undyne a wary look. He didn’t want to start his new business off with property damage. RG1 took a seat next to RG2, and Undyne found an empty chair on the other side of RG2. 

“Hey, Captain. Long time, no see.” One of the guard said. 

“She isn’t Captain anymore.” another replied. 

“Oh yeah.”

“Hey, where’s Alphys?” RG2 asked

“I asked her if she wanted to come,” Undyne sighed. “But she thought you guys wouldn’t really want her here. Kept saying ‘I was never a guard’ so…”

“What, she think we’re gonna toss her out?” RG2 said

“Yeah, call her! She should get to know the rest of your family.” RG1 chipped in. Undyne grinned and pulled out her phone. She dialed Alphys’ number, turned the speakerphone on, and tossed it in the middle of the table. Undyne shushed everyone down as the phone rang. 

“Uh...h-hello? Everything okay, Undyne?” Alphys’ voice came from the tinny speaker. 

“Not really, Al! We’re missing someone!” Undyne said loudly, leaning towards the middle of the table.

“Oh? Who?” Alphys asked

“You! Everyone’s asking where you are!” Undyne replied.

“Yeah!” The guards all said at once.

“Uh...I...I…” Alphys sounded taken aback. “But...I’m not a...I never…”

“Nah, but you’re, like, marrying into the family.” RG1 said, causing the table to burst into laughter as Undyne turned red.

“Dude! Slow down!” Undyne hissed. “We haven’t talked about-”

“C’mon, Doc! Everyone wants you here” RG2 said over Undyne. 

“I...I didn’t…” Alphys sounded like she was choking up a bit. “O...okay. I’ll be right there!” 

The rest of the table started cheering and clapping as Undyne snatched up the phone.

“See you soon, Al.” She said, and hung up. “Marrying into the family.” She mimicked RG1 with an annoyed tone. 

“Aw, come on.” One guard said. “How long have you two been going out anyway?” 

“Well, let’s see...” Undyne scratched her head, thinking. She didn’t notice that the entire table went quiet and was looking at RG2 instead of her. RG2 reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He opened it up under the table, hoping that Undyne wouldn’t notice. RG1 took a deep breath. He had completely forgotten about the betting pool! There must have been a small fortune in the pot by now. 

“Well, we pretty much made it official the day after the barrier went down and that was, like, September 15th, I think? So…” Undyne started counting on her finger. RG1 was busy scanning down the list of names and dates until he got to the last date that came before September 15th. 

His name was next to it.

“Yes!” RG1 yelled, pumping his fist. “I won the…oh.” he looked at Undyne, who was looking at him with a puzzled look. 

“Won? Won what? What are you…” She glanced down and, seeing the piece of paper, snatched it out of RG2’s unresisting hand. The table was deathly silent as Undyne scanned at. Some of the guard started looking for an escape route. 

“Well, this was, like, super fun,” RG1 quickly stood up and started towards the door. “But I should really get back to-” Undyne reached out at grabbed his arm, stopping him dead. 

“You guys...have been betting on my love life?!” Undyne growled. “Seriously?!” 

Every one of the guard looked around awkwardly.

“Well…”

“Uh…”

“I guess we just…” 

“You!” Undyne tightened her grip on RG1 and looked at him furiously. “You’re gonna pay for this, RG1! I’m going to make sure of that.” 

RG1 looked at Undyne, terrified. After a few agonizing seconds of silence, Undyne’s face broke into a mischievous grin. She turned around. 

“Hey, Grillby!” Undyne shouted and pointed at RG1. “Drinks are on him!” 

The whole table burst out laughing. RG1 joined in after his brain caught up to the fact that he wasn’t actually going to die today. 

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” RG1 shrugged. “I’ll still have, like, a bunch left over.” 

“Save it for the honeymoon.” Undyne clapped his back. The whole table started laughing again as RG1 and RG2 turned beat red.

As RG1 sat back down and grabbed RG2’s hand under the table and listened to the gentle teasing from everyone at the table, he realized that for the first time since he left the Underground, he felt like he was home again instead of in some strange new world. 

Because home is where your family is, even if it’s the family you find. 


End file.
